The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned people that cloth masks don’t offer protection from wildfire smoke, prompting questions and criticisms on Twitter.
“Cloth masks that are used to slow the spread of COVID-19 by blocking respiratory droplets offer little protection against wildfire smoke,” the CDC website warned this week in response to several major wildfires breaking out in the western United States. “They do not catch small, harmful particles in smoke that can harm your health.”
“And here’s @cdcgov warning ordinary (non-N95) masks will do nothing to protect you against wildfire smoke because ‘they do not catch small particles,'” former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, a vocal critic of the coronavirus lockdowns, tweeted. “Fun fact: smoke particles are far larger than #SARSCoV2. Your mask protects… well, no one.”
And here’s @cdcgov warning ordinary (non-N95) masks will do nothing to protect you against wildfire smoke because “they do not catch small particles.”
Fun fact: smoke particles are far larger than #SARSCoV2.
Your mask protects… well, no one. pic.twitter.com/sFJzzGNLVa
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) September 11, 2020
The Washington Times reported several other Twitter users responding to the news with comments such as “If this makes sense, public education has failed you!” and “CV virions are 0.125 microns while most smoke particles can be seen with the naked eye. Pls stop lying to us. Masks don’t work for CV.”
More than 3 million acres have burned in California, and President Trump will tour the area to observe the devastation on Monday.
“Since mid-August, President Trump and Gov. Newsom have spoken by phone, and the White House and FEMA have remained in constant contact with state and local officials throughout the response to these natural disasters,” a special assistant to the president said in a statement.
